Still no word on surgery dates. I am getting very frustrated that we have made no progress in scheduling. I need to tell my professors NOW if I will need to take any finals early. Hopefully we have the dates soon.
Tuesday was my appointment with Dr. Shiple for the dextrose epidural. The hope was that it would act as a local anesthetic and numb my leg/hip and alleviate some pain. I was really hoping that it would work because I wanted to try PRP to hopefully repair the tears in my hip. Unfortunately the dextrose epidural did absolutely nothing. It was a painful experience that I will never try again. It left me with horrible back pain (on top the back pain I already experience and live with everyday). Because it did not numb my leg, I will not be going ahead with PRP. Without a local anesthetic PRP would be extremely painful. We all agreed that that was our last option. There is no plan B for the tears in my hip. We have hit a dead end. I will continue to work with Cam to work on learning how to walk and retraining the proper muscles to fire in the correct order. We are also working on muscle strength to help stabilize my pelvis. Ultimately, my stability training will not be complete until my ankle and knee are reconstructed as they play an important part in mobility. Although I am upset that the dextrose epidural did not work, and I have no other options, I have learned not to expect anything. If you don't expect anything you won't be as disappointed when the results don't end in your favor.
My shoulder is still popping out and causing problems. It took about 5 days until I noticed improvements with my "dead arm" feeling, however it is not gone. Certain movements cause the sensation to return and I still have limited use of the arm. I experience sharp muscle spasm pains in my neck, scapula and down my arm. My elbow is now significantly more hypermobile than it was before. Cam said this is normal with shoulder dislocations and laxity. Dr. Shiple mentioned that I may have an entrapped nerve. The only fix would be surgery-the ONE surgery I will NEVER have. Nerve release procedures pose more risk of nerve damage and complications. It is possible that when I have my shoulder reconstructed next summer, the stable position of the joint will result in the nerve entrapment correcting itself. I have no time to worry about this right now. My surgeon told me that for the time being I should use my pillow sling (4-6 weeks). However, seeing as I am a full-time student with a cane/crutch and heavy backpack, I cannot use a pillow-sling while at school. Instead, I wear a standard sling and wear the pillow-sling everywhere else. So I compromised.
My hip pain is not improving. I still experience sharp groin pains with every step and through flexion of the hip. Cam is working with me to use the leg correctly when walking although it is difficult. I am missing two key components to walking--my knee and ankle! Unfortunately there is not much I can do for my hips, so I will try to focus on my breathing exercises (aimed at redirecting control to my core), walking with Cam, and the proper mobility of the leg with walking.
I had an ultrasound on Wednesday for my kidney. Thankfully everything is normal. The second round of antibiotics worked after about 2 days. I still have some residual back pain in the general area of the kidneys but I am attributing that to the fact that my spine is out of alignment.
I have not reported on my CRPS symptoms in awhile. I am still taking 1800mg a day of Neurontin. I have been experiencing some lightning bolt pains in my leg lately but they happen randomly. I have not noticed any discoloration in my leg but my knee is becoming more hypersensitive to touch again. If the hypersensitivity increases I will talk to Dr. Shiple about whether or not I need to increase my Neurontin. CRPS tends to have a mind of it's own and seeing as I have only noticed these symptoms for the last week, there is no need to worry just yet. Fingers crossed it goes back into hiding.
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